


What You Didn't Know

by broken_hearted_bard



Series: A Decent Upbringing [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, Eileen Prince Lives, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, M/M, More Films Canon Than Books Canon, Multi, OOC Severus - Freeform, Regulus Black Lives, Rye Prince, Severitus, Severus Prince - Freeform, Severus is Harry's Father, Snape/Prince Features/Looks (Harry), Some Canon Features Will Be Used, not canon, severus raises harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_hearted_bard/pseuds/broken_hearted_bard
Summary: After three years of "raising" young Harry, Petunia is finally able to make contact with Severus Snape. She's had enough, and thinks it most appropriate for Severus to take the child away, seeing as Severus, it turns out, is Harry's biological father.Pre Philosopher's Stone.





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline:  
> Severus's Birthday: January 9th 1972  
> Harry's Birthday: July 31st 1992  
> 1st Wizarding World War Against Riddle: 1982-1993  
> Prophecy Heard/Given: Fall of 1992
> 
> \- Rye Prince -  
> First Year: 2003-2004  
> Second Year: 2004-2005  
> Third Year: 2005-2006  
> Fourth Year: 2006-2007  
> Fifth Year: 2007-2008  
> Sixth Year: 2008-2009  
> Seventh Year: 2009-2010
> 
> A/N:  
> I currently have half a dozen WIP fics going in the HP world, and I fully intend to finish them all out. However, I can't get this to leave my brain. So...here's the beginning of it, at least.  
> Also, yes, this embraces a couple of tropes that some people just don't like. 
> 
> So, if you're not a fan of twists on canon, if you hate Severus-is-Harry's-Dad fics, or if you just don't like it when authors mess with the background of a character, please move on. No need to read, if you're not open to it. Please read the tags. Thank you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus finds out Harry's his kid.

**Second, December, 1996**  
_Severus Snape,_  
_It has taken me these last three years to find a way to contact you._  
_I am very well aware that you will remember me, as I was Lily Evan's sister. I cannot continue raising the boy._  
_Since that wretched man unceremoniously dropped my nephew off on my doorstep with only a blanket and a letter, it has been one nightmare after the next._  
_I will not continue to provide for my sister's bastard child, and you cannot expect me to. While he is Lily's boy, I detest his foulness being in my home, and I am not exaggerating._  
_If you do not come fetch him at once, I will be taking him to the nearest orphanage, on this I swear._  
_It should have been you, raising him, all along. He is, after all, your son._  
_Make haste, Mr. Snape._  
_Sincerely,_  
_Petunia Dursley_

Severus stared at the door of Number 4 Privet Drive, with dread pooling in his stomach. As far as he was aware, he had no children and Potter's brat certainly wasn't his child. While he and Lily had reconciled their friendship two years before her death, he'd never had sex with a woman in his life -- especially not his dearest friend. And wouldn't he remember it, if he had?

However mistaken Petunia might be, he couldn't very well let her turn her nephew out and into an orphanage. He'd sworn to protect the child -- to both Lily and Headmaster Dumbledore -- and so that was what he was here to do. Somehow, he had to go in there and convince Tuney to continue raising young Harry.

Suddenly, the front door swung open. Petunia stood in the doorway, scowling at Severus.

"Come in, quick!" she cried as she lunged for him.

Severus let himself be pulled into the house.

In the front parlour, Petunia sat down on a flower-patterned sofa and smoothed her hands over the skirt of her dress. "I always said that she'd do well to be rid of you," she said unkindly.

Severus snorted. "And I always said that she'd do well to ignore the likes of you, Tuney," he replied.

Petunia bristled. "Well, it seems we're both disappointed then."

"Hardly," Severus said. "You have some insane notion that Mr. Potter is my child, so...where is the boy?"

She rose from the couch and disappeared through the door.

Severus heard footsteps and a loud banging sound before Petunia reappeared, one hand on the back of a very small child as the boy walked slowly into the room.

For a moment, all Severus saw was Lily's deep, bright, bottle-green eyes.

He blinked back tears for a few seconds before regaining his composure and taking in the finer details of the young lad before him.

Even at four years of age, Severus could see the stamp of himself in the boy's face. Harry's cheeks had the Prince hollow and sharpness. His nose was very slightly pointed at the tip, but otherwise unobtrusive. His hair was long, lanky and black. His chin had a delicate point, his mouth was thin. The boy looked much too small for his age, with very slim hips and shoulders -- although at first glance, Severus attributed that to his age.

The eyes were all Lily -- the shape, the colour. 

"Bloody buggering hell," he whispered as Petunia handed Severus a very small suitcase.

"As you can see," Petunia gloated. "He doesn't look a thing like Potter. And he's made my life a misery, so you'll take him now, Severus!"

"But....how?" Severus trailed off and pressed his fingers to his eyes. What the fucking hell was going on?

"The usual way, I'd imagine...though I'd like not to imagine it," Petunia replied crossly.

Severus stood and approached Harry. His eyes narrowed at the way Harry flinched away from him. He went down on his knees.

Eye-level with Harry, Severus said in a very soft voice. "You're coming home with me. I'm your father. I'll take very good care of you, I promise."

Harry's brilliant eyes went wide and watery before he nodded and held out a tiny hand to the man in front of him.

************************************

TBC


	2. Five Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We pick back up five months later.  
> Rye is waking up from a coma.
> 
> **Riley Emmerson Prince = Harry James Potter.**  
> (Nickname = Rye)
> 
> Black Manor = #12 Grimmauld Place  
> (Basement, Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor, Third Floor, Attic [Fourth Floor])  
> All very well remodeled and no longer dark or dangerous.

Severus paced outside of Rye's room on the first floor of Black Manor. Healer Renquiste was inside, waking Rye up from the magickally-induced coma he'd been in for just over five months.

They'd missed Rye's fifth birthday while he recovered from a dangerous, dark magick that had oozed out of his scar after a Bloodline revealing spell that Severus has used on him (in combination with a potion) more than five months earlier.

After, Regulus had come clean about the Dark Lord's horcruxes and Severus had vowed to help find and destroy each one made by the Dark Lord.

Regulus had been a rock -- steady and sure, for Severus to lean on. He'd accepted Rye into their lives with very few questions and without upset. He'd given Rye his old room, redesigned with a five year old boy in mind. He'd been there through every moment of the last few months when Severus hadn't known if his son would ever wake.

And now, the healer was in there; using complex magick and potions to wake Rye up, and all Severus could do was to stand outside the room and pace.

Horcruxes were dangerous, dark magick and having it removed from such a small little boy by error was more dangerous still. It was lucky that Severus was such an adept potion maker and that Regulus had such skill in healing magicks, or they might not have saved the young boy's life.

Still, now Rye was his own person - free to go through life on his own, unconnected to the Dark Lord and without that blasted scar.

While he'd been asleep, they'd had a healer come in and do all of his vaccines, they'd bought him a wardrobe fit for both his age and his status, and had his eyes fit for magickal contact lenses. The lenses would, over time, correct as much of his eyesight as they could and then dissolve when they were finished. They also darkened his irises from their bottle-green (a testament to his mother) to a sort of murky brown. The colour change would not be permanent.

Even Severus's' mother, Eileen, had visited. And though she'd been alarmed at how sick little Rye was, she'd been delighted to have a grandchild.

Lastly, they'd made up a family history for him. Using a touch of obscure mind-magick, Severus had hidden Rye's memories of Petunia, as well as his cousin and uncle and installed some vague memories about a woman with deep red hair and a gentle, lilting laugh. 

On paper, Harry Potter still resided with his Aunt and Uncle, but they lived in France now (where Regulus had relocated them months earlier). In muggle France, the Dursley's would go relatively unnoticed and would be completely outside of the British Ministry's purview -- and outside of the influence of Albus Dumbledore.

Riley Emmerson Prince was the son of Margaret Lillibeth Petersen and Severus Tobias Snape-Prince (Professor Snape). Rye, as they called him, was born on the second of August, 1992. The story was that Severus had met Margaret during his apprenticeship after Hogwarts, and that she'd attended a specialized witchery school in London. Severus had vague memories of her, should he be checked for it, and he'd discovered that Rye was his son only after Maggie's death seven months earlier.

It would be believed that Rye had almost no memory of her, what with his extended illness and his age. The fact that Severus had told no one, save Regulus and Healer Renquiste, would not be considered that odd, because Severus was such a private person anyway. In two or three days time, Severus planned to tell Headmaster Dumbledore, but he wanted Rye to be awake and well first.

The bedroom door opened and Healer Renquiste strode out. "He needs to stay resting, in bed, for the rest of the day, until tomorrow morning, but I have given him a thorough examination and all the requisite potions," the Healer said.

"He is awake then?" Severus asked.

Healer Renquiste smiled and then nodded. "Yes, you may see him. He is perfectly fine. Just in need of a bit of additional rest. I expect him to bounce back smoothly, and to be up to normal play and the activities of a typical five year old by no later than three days from now. Take it easy for the next two days. Rest today, gentle activities tomorrow," he explained.

"Thank you," Severus said as he rushed inside the gently-lit room and shut the door behind himself.

"I'll send you my bill via floo-post!" Healer Renquiste called as he left.

Rye lay in the large bed, propped up by several pillows into a slight sitting position. He smiled widely at the sight of his father. 

"Dad?" Rye asked.

Severus exhaled in relief and gave a short smile. "Yes," he said quietly. "You are alright now, Rye."

Rye gave a little laugh. "What do we do now?" he asked in his child-sized voice. 

It was Severus's turn to laugh. "I have no idea. But we'll figure it out together," he replied.

 

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**Author's Note:**

> Comments are moderated.


End file.
